


Things in Common

by tsuyamon



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Anxiety, Awkward Flirting, Boys Kissing, Denial of Feelings, Fluff, M/M, Minor Honda Hiroto | Tristan Taylor/Otogi Ryuuji | Duke Devlin, Minor Mazaki Anzu | Tea Gardner/Mutou Yuugi, Original Character(s), Tension, mild infidelity, no dog stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-05-20 15:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19379197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuyamon/pseuds/tsuyamon
Summary: There's a TA in Jounouchi's Statistics class that he can't seem to stop staring at.University AU, fluffy! <3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have an entire outline written but there's so much build up to write that I'm just.... not....... super good at........ so please let me know what you think or if ur at all interested in this!! <3 <3
> 
> Also a warning: there is some infidelity in this fic!!

Serena undid her hair and launched her scrunchie over Jounouchi’s bed before sneaking into the bathroom. She hugged him from behind as he brushed his teeth.

“You’re so warm,” she hummed into his shoulder.

His electric toothbrush automatically shut off and he spat into the sink, methodically washing the foam away. With a quick squeeze of her hands, Jou pulled her arms apart and twisted around in her grip to hug her.

“You’ll really go to her party? Even though it’s during the week?” she mumbled into his ear as he squeezed her around the waist.

“Yeah, it’ll be fine,” Jou muttered absentmindedly. They separated and he stumbled across the room to flip off the light before collapsing onto his side of the bed. 

 

Today had only been the second day of his second semester, and while nothing was really _difficult,_ he was exhausted by the time he dragged his feet through the door of his apartment at 4:30. Serena, on the other hand, was blessed with a 9-to-5 and had a well-established routine, making it easy for her to spend the night at Jounouchi’s at least a few times a week. While it had worked at first, her near-constant presence was starting to weigh on him.

However, Jounouchi had become used to shaking off doubts like these. When he thought about the events of the last year, a numbness crept up the back of his neck. One of the only sources of joy in his life during those dark times had been Serena. Serena and her bright green eyes, her crop of black hair, her tooth-gap. Serena and her clear and unyielding loyalty. She’d been there to listen to him when no one else had: a fact that Jounouchi tried to remind himself of often.

His uncle, one of the only family members he was close to, passed away almost one full year ago, just after Thanksgiving. While the outrageous amount of money he’d left was technically _helpful_ in that it finally gave Jounouchi the chance to go to school, it was nowhere near worth it for the friend that was lost in exchange.

Three weeks after gaining his first chunk of inheritance, Jounouchi was on his own in an apartment downtown - nothing overly fancy, but he was certainly comfortable. Enrolling in university came soon after, and even with his father guilt-tripping him every other day for “assistance” (read: unnecessary amounts of money), Jounouchi still managed an excellent application essay. He was accepted into a general AA program quickly and without difficulty.

The first quarter’s classes weren’t terribly exciting, but he fought his way through them. Things like English 101, an Associated Science class, a History course that he only ever comprehended on a surface level, but somehow achieved a B+ in… Days started to run together by the fourth week, and by the time finals rolled around, Jounouchi couldn’t tell if it was Monday or Friday.

His current and second quarter had already proved more interesting, although he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing in this case. On a whim, he’d chosen Botany as an elective, and after just the first week he actually found himself looking forward to it. It was balanced though, out-weighed even, by a statistics class that he’d somehow managed to get himself placed in.

The professor was out of town the first week, which was exciting news at first. Hopes were dashed though, as he soon realized that of course meant that they’d have one less week to comprehend a bunch of algebraic bullshit that he was already terrible at understanding. A quiet dread crept up on him the entire week leading up to the unofficial first class, and when he woke up on Monday morning at 7:00 and prepared for his botany class, he declared the entire day a loss.

 

Walking around campus was definitely less confusing by now, but the building containing his statistics class proved extremely difficult to find. It was eight minutes past when he finally came across the right room, and the stout professor gave him a pointed pause-and-stare as he shuffled his way to the top seats at the back of the lecture hall.

Math was already his least favorite subject; it had always been more difficult for him to understand than any other class, and he was shit at dealing with his own mediocrity. Combine that with a professor whose voice was quickly lulling him to sleep, and Jounouchi hardly felt compelled to attend again unless absolutely necessary.

 

It was the third class that he showed up to (the seventh class held) when something interesting happened. 

Sitting behind the professor’s desk was a tall, lanky boy with unusually vivid blue eyes. A mess of dark chocolate hair just covered his eyebrows, and he sat with his chin in his hand the entire class period as he scrolled through something on the computer.

When class was dismissed, Jounouchi packed up his things and slowly moved down the steps, studying the boy behind the desk the entire way and furrowing his brow at what he noticed. He was dressed head-to-toe in black, despite the warmer weather lately - his shirt was almost a full turtleneck. Though judging by his porcelain skin, it was probably a necessary precaution.

_What?_

Suddenly flustered, Jounouchi looked forward and concentrated on the tiles passing underneath his feet until he had completely exited the building.

 

That night at dinner, Serena passed Jou a bowl of steaming rice and rested her face in her hand as she poked at her own portion.

“How were your classes today?”

“Boring,” Jounouchi mumbled, setting the rice back in between them. “Oh, there was a guy at the front desk in Stats - a TA I’m guessing. He was super interesting looking.”

Serena gasped, feigning outrage.

“Interesting?” she scoffed. “Should I be worried?”

He smiled through a huge bite of rice and rolled his eyes.

“Shut up.”

 

On Wednesday, the same boy again sat behind the professor’s desk. The seat he had chosen that first day provided a near-perfect view, and in the few minutes before class, Jounouchi couldn’t help but observe him as he graded papers. Suddenly he rose from behind the desk, and Jou had to quickly avert his eyes.

The teacher’s assistant had nearly tripled in height when he stood, showing off legs that stretched for _miles_ in snug black jeans as he sauntered over to their professor with a quick question. On his short walk back Jounouchi managed to steal another look at him, and only then did he notice the boots. Not just boots, but calf-high fitted boots with literal _strapped buckles_ secured around the boy’s calves.

With no one to answer any of the ten thousand questions now running through his head, Jou speculated wildly until class was dismissed 52 minutes later. In fact, for the rest of the day, he couldn’t help but come back to those questions when his mind wandered. It wasn’t until 10:30, when he finally glanced up from his homework and at the clock hanging above his desk, that he realized just how much time he’d spent thinking about it.

 

Video games were an excellent distraction, and Jounouchi’s mind felt a little more at ease when he finally powered everything off an hour later. He came upstairs to find Serena sprawled out on his bed in a silky teddy and didn’t catch himself quickly enough - a pained look crossed his face, immediately upsetting her. 

As usual, sex just wasn’t something that Jounouchi felt he could handle at the moment. He simply lacked the energy. Was it his fault that it showed plainly on his face? School took enough out of him to begin with. Serena would never understand, but having your girlfriend spend the night on top of that was surprisingly exhausting. 

They’d only been dating for six months, and it was times like these that Jounouchi was reminded of how much he’d loved living alone... but he knew relationships ebbed and flowed, and she was affectionate and meant well. That, and therapy was expensive. They’d be fine.

 _He’d_ be fine.

Following their fight, which was really just Serena whining and Jounouchi being present, he stared at the comforter as she stomped upstairs to the bathroom. The familiar sound of running water filled the room and within seconds, Jounouchi had his laptop out and the university’s website open. With a quick search of “STATS122”, he clicked through to a different portal and suddenly had an up to date attendance list for the quarter.

Keeping a picture of the blue-eyed boy in his mind, Jou went down the list and mumbled each name out loud, mentally holding them up to what little of his face he remembered and shooting them down one by one.

 _Ryou?_ No.

 _Malik?_ Definitely not.

 _Sasuke?_ Hm... not likely.

After reading and re-reading through all 35 names, he declared it a lost cause. As he closed the browser, Jounouchi hesitated when confronted by the desktop background. It was Serena grinning while riding an inner tube a few months ago, a picture that Anzu took when she wasn’t looking. He picked at a sticker next to the keyboard and frowned.

The sudden squeak of the shower knob made him flinch, and he shut the computer down completely before storing it under his side of the bed. He turned the light off and drifted off to the sound of Serena’s blow dryer.

 

Two days later, Jounouchi showed up to Statistics for what was now the third time in a row. And for the third time in a row, the boy with blue eyes sat behind the professor’s desk, tapping away behind the computer for the majority of the class. 

When questioned about his sudden academic motivation (by… himself?) Jounouchi cited a severe lack of mathematical understanding. He backed this up by taking thorough notes and paying as close attention as he could to every detail of the extremely dull lecture. It was only at the very end that he found himself falling asleep, and as the students around him began packing up, he quietly thanked god for short class periods.

“As I said at the beginning of class, those will be due next Wednesday. And do remember,” Mr. Enshiro tried to project over the shuffling, “an extra credit event is coming up. There are fliers on my desk, and any questions you have can be answered by my lovely TA. Have a good weekend, everyone.”

The muffled packing of pencils and textbooks increased to a dull roar, and Jounouchi smiled into his backpack as he haphazardly shoved everything inside.

This could work. 

He took his time with the papers on his desk and let everyone else go before him. When all that remained was a group of girls on the other side of the room, he trotted down the stairs and over to the desk, where a neat stack of papers sat just next to the TA’s mousepad. Jounouchi ignored the tension in his chest and went to grab one as casually as possible.

Nothing can ever be easy, though, and the fliers stuck together, forcing him to use his other hand to separate one from the stack. It was enough of a commotion to make blue-eyes turn his head from the computer for a second, instantly making eye contact with Jounouchi, who was already staring.

“Ah, just grabbing one of these,” Jou blurted, punctuating it with a shaky laugh as his chest throbbed.

He fiddled with the flier in both hands as the boy turned back to the computer without a word. A few seconds of anxious paper-folding went by before the TA turned to face Jounouchi again, this time with one eyebrow raised. He took his hand away from his mouth to speak.

“Do you need something?”

While Jounouchi hadn’t extensively considered what his voice would sound like, he had absolutely _not_ pegged it to be so low and raspy. The unexpectedness of it startled him into grinning and he shook his head as he struggled to come up with a response.

“Oh no, thanks,” he assured him weakly, still fidgeting around with the folded paper in his hands.

The TA stared in confusion for a moment longer before returning his gaze to the computer monitor. Internally Jounouchi cursed his own cowardice, and he turned around to find their professor at the other end of the classroom, speaking to a student by the door. He shoved the now-crumpled flier into his jacket pocket and walked up just as their conversation ended.

“Ah, Mr. Jounouchi, how are you?”

“Yeah, I was just wondering what your TA’s name is? I’ve had a few classes with him, seems like maybe we should study together or something,” Jou bullshitted, laying the charm on thick.

“Oh-ho, yes, Mr. Kaiba!” he crowed, amused. “Interesting! You, too, are an engineering major?”

“Sure am,” Jounouchi confirmed without hesitation. He flashed him a grin and pushed the door open. “See you Monday!”

 

As soon as his backpack hit the carpet back at his apartment, Jounouchi was again unfolding his laptop and searching for the attendance sheets. He dug deeper and clicked his way through to Mr. Enshiro’s classes, which led to a totally different sub-site that contained future lists - two of which included a “Kaiba, Seto” as a Teacher’s Assistant at the top of the form.

Jounouchi stared at the name. Seto Kaiba… must go by Kaiba, though, if Mr. Enshiro is the example to be followed. If they did speak, he probably shouldn’t imply that he knows his name at all, and should ask for it if necessary. Or would that be normal? Is asking for someone’s name normal? It depends on context, certainly, but - 

Hm.

Jou’s head hit the pillow with a satisfying _whump_ , and the sigh that followed quickly morphed into a loud groan of frustration. The laptop on his thighs hummed as he stared at the ceiling. He was giving these fleeting questions about the random TA more thought than they were worth, and it was literally starting to drive him crazy.

A hot shower sounded like a cure, and he tossed his laptop to the side and ran the water. Stepping inside, he was confronted by a row of pink and yellow hair products that seemingly launched themselves into the tub. 

_Nice._

It seemed he was destined to continue fretting, and so he left them and leaned against the tile, letting the scalding water run over him as he accepted his fate.

 

For most of their “adult” lives, Jounouchi’s friends had been trying to match him up with a girl. Though he’d had plenty of girlfriends, none had ever been truly serious, and after a staggering number of failed (and just plain unenjoyable) dates, he stopped focusing on it and spent more time working in order to save for school. When he’d go out with Honda and Ryuuji, they’d come home with girls every time, leaving him to spend the rest of the night either alone or hanging out with Serena, who was originally Otogi’s roommate. 

Over time, that friendship grew into something much closer and more comfortable. They were there for each other - there had been favors in the middle of the night, long talks about things they’d never spoken of before. It wasn’t until several months of being this close had passed that Serena finally worked up the courage to ask him out, and after being single for so long, he decided to give things a chance. 

At the time, it felt like a great idea. Almost like the natural next step in something that, so far, only had positive things to offer. They were practically best friends, super relaxed around each other, and there was a mutual attraction, even if it wasn’t the most magnetic thing he’d ever felt. For once, though, he felt excited about the future.

The honeymoon phase was very, very real. Combine that with a natural tendency to people-please, and Jounouchi was ready for action whenever Serena snapped her fingers in the first month or two of their relationship. They hung out constantly for a while, but over time, they were forced to slow down. School abruptly became a huge time commitment for him. That, and there was plenty going on in his head that couldn’t sit on the back burner anymore. Things he felt he couldn’t talk to her about.

While their quality time was trimmed back a bit, their sex life was chopped off completely. It wasn’t that Jounouchi wasn’t attracted to her - something he’d tried to explain to her plenty of times before - it was what he couldn’t explain. Something in his gut that somehow crept all the way up and into his throat, a feeling too uncomfortable for him to just ignore. But Serena’s friendship, her loyalty, her trust - she was too important at this point to forget about, or worse, hurt.

And so he stayed.

 

After stepping out of the scalding water, Jou opened his bedroom window and laid in bed, letting the heat radiate off of him in waves. 

Sleep came easy.

~

The next week went by almost completely devoid of any excitement.

 

On Sunday, Jounouchi fell asleep early and woke up to find Serena gone. He went back to sleep.

 

Kaiba sat behind the professor’s desk on Monday, and Jou tried his best not to look at him.

 

There was a party held at Serena’s work on Tuesday, and Jounouchi had completely forgotten until she knocked on his door at 6:30 sharp. He opened it to find her wearing a skimpy dress and glaring at his ratty shirt.

“Really?” she pouted, crumpling against the wall next to his door. “Seriously?”

It took an insane amount of effort for Jounouchi not to sigh.

“I just need a minute.”

She waited in the living room, and while he changed into a short sleeve button down and jeans, he tried to focus on his breathing and remember how things were with her in the beginning. How excited she’d look when he brought her lunch. How she’d driven four hours to bring him keys that he’d forgotten. How she’d held him when he needed it most.

Jounouchi fiddled with his bangs for a few last seconds before heading back out and smiling at Serena, who sat on the couch looking unimpressed.

“Ready?”

She squinted at him.

“I’ve _been_ ready,” she whined.

“Hey, I’m sorry I forgot,” Jou purred. He pulled her up from the couch and took her hand in his, intertwining their fingers. “Don’t worry, you’re supposed to be fashionably late.”

Even though she’d rolled her eyes at his sentiment, everyone was already a few drinks in when they arrived, and they were welcomed with open arms. Talking to people was something Jounouchi excelled at, and he was more than prepared to charm his way into her coworkers’ hearts over the night.

They came in and immediately he was introduced to seven of her coworkers. As he went down the line, they ended on a pair of girls who both giggled into their hands and curtseyed at him before laughing even louder at each other.

“Oh my god, you guys, stop,” Serena scolded, glancing at Jounouchi as her friends failed to collect themselves. She smacked the blonde girl in the leg and they both straightened up momentarily before breaking down and laughing even harder. “Arya, fucking stop. Katsuya, this is Arya and Mei. You guys, this is Jounouchi.”

“We’ve heard _so_ much about you,” Arya giggled as she reached for Jou’s hand and squeezed it lightly. “You’re surprisingly cute!”

Something tugged at the back of Jounouchi’s mind, but he managed to smile and nod as Serena smacked Arya even harder.

The next hour and a half was a blur of introductions, half-assed puns, and shallow discussions about workplace gossip. Jou drifted in and out of the conversation, too deep in his own head. By the time they left, he’d been fully tuned out for a good half hour, and Serena playfully snapped her fingers in front of him as they got in the car.

“Hey, wake up,” she laughed, giving his knee a squeeze. “You looked really cute in your button down tonight…”

Her hand crept up his thigh, and Jounouchi didn’t hesitate before indulging her and kissing her for the entire car ride home. They came around the block as he slid a hand up her shirt, and when they pulled up out front she was opening her door before the car stopped moving. 

Things progressed quickly as soon as they were inside, and finally Jounouchi gave her just what she’d been begging for these past two weeks. _And that’s what she deserves,_ he thought to himself as he cleaned up, looking at her peaceful sleeping face as she dozed on the other side of the bed. 

 

On Wednesday, Honda met up with Jounouchi after class for ramen. They talked about Honda’s family problems, but every time he had the opportunity to bring up his own struggles, he ended up saying something else and diving off topic. Hypothetically, it would probably be nice to talk to someone about all this, but he was putting it off until he felt it was _absolutely_ necessary. 

Emotions are weird, and they come and go. Things were fine. Better than fine. 

They were **good**.

 

Thursday involved a mandatory group meeting for his botany class, and it ended up lasting four and a half hours, ruining any possibility of going out. (Would he have gone out? Absolutely. Yes. He would have.)

He fell asleep early, halfway through a container of cold rice.

 

It heated up to the mid-80s on Friday, and Kaiba wore a black polo. It was buttoned to the top, and a flat peter-pan collar perfectly framed his neck. It was also the complete opposite of his usual turtleneck, and therefore, very normal for Jounouchi to have noticed.

Even though he was having an extremely difficult time accepting that he was cataloguing this information, he still scribbled it down in the back of his mind next to the few other things he’d so far determined - Kaiba was left-handed, he exclusively wore black, and he was well over six feet tall.

 

The weekend didn’t offer anything even mildly as fascinating as Kaiba’s small change in wardrobe. Three different groups of friends invited him out, and when he declined, everyone gave him shit, only giving him more reason to spend two days moping. Both Saturday and Sunday were spent eating ice cream and watching cartoons. He was endlessly thankful for Serena’s sudden trip out of town - some alone time was precisely what he needed.

When he got out of bed Monday morning, Jounouchi went through the motions to prepare for another productive, if not dull week. The sun dried the ends of his hair on his walk to school and seemed to actually be improving his mood, but just as he stepped through the doors, his phone buzzed with a call from his father.

Fifteen minutes and one unnecessary argument later, Jounouchi was walking into Statistics late with his jaw clenched and his feelings hurt. While he usually didn’t fully comprehend most of what was taught, today he didn’t listen to a single word. Instead, he scribbled angry messages in his notebook, completely tuning out Mr. Enshiro until the girl next to him snapped her textbook shut and he looked up, catching the end of his sentence.

“...needs any tutoring, Kaiba will be available for an hour after class a few times a week starting today. I’ll see you all on Wednesday!”

A familiar tension bloomed in Jounouchi’s chest, and he shoved his notebook in his backpack and paused with his hand on the zipper. _Would it be weird…?_ The throbbing in his ribcage said that yes, it would be weird, but right now, as the idea rattled around in his brain, it sounded worth it.

His backpack slung over one shoulder, Jounouchi casually made his way down the steps and over to the desk where Kaiba sat. He cleared his throat.

“You free?”

A few seconds passed, and Jounouchi started to worry that Kaiba hadn’t heard him at all when he abruptly scooted his keyboard aside and turned to face him.

“What is it you need help with?”

Something cold pressed against the back of Jounouchi’s knees, and he turned to find their professor behind him with a chair. He smiled and sat down, giving him a quick thank you before scooting closer and leaning onto the desk.

A good 75% of the problems given in Statistics gave Jounouchi difficulty, so when he pulled his textbook from his backpack and looked for one to give Kaiba, finding one that he couldn’t solve was easy. What wasn’t easy was doing anything knowing that he had Kaiba’s undivided attention, and he chewed his lip as he nervously flipped through the chapter.

“Number twenty-four,” Jounouchi said quietly, pointing at a spot on the page as he slid the book across the table. Kaiba’s forehead wrinkled as he read through the problem, but he wrote out several steps for solving the equation before turning it around and sliding it back.

“I’ve written it out, but it’s fairly straightforward.”

A lovely combination of laundry detergent and old spice drifted over to Jounouchi, and he tapped his foot restlessly on the linoleum as his eyes scanned over the solution that Kaiba had written.

“Cool, thanks,” he mumbled absently, taking in approximately none of the information on the page in front of him before looking back up at Kaiba. “Um, there’s a few more on that page. Twenty-seven through thirty-three.”

Kaiba took back the book and followed the same process with each problem: read it carefully (and quickly, Jounouchi noted), write it out step by step, number each step, and check the solution. His left hand held a firm grip on the pen and moved rather rapidly, but his handwriting stayed steady and flowing. It was all done so methodically that Jounouchi sat still and watched his hands for the entire ten minutes it took, hypnotized.

Suddenly the pen flipped across Kaiba’s knuckles and threaded through them one by one, and Jounouchi looked up to find him staring back with a hand spread over the page.

“Any others?”

Jounouchi’s heartbeat pulsed in his stomach as he named six other random numbers and another ten minutes later, he had step-by-step solutions to thirteen different problems. As he skimmed over them, he noted that they would actually prove very useful. Even more valuable was the time he’d spent observing Kaiba from this close up, however alarming the feelings it ignited may be.

Kaiba passed both the book and notebook back and Jounouchi chewed the inside of his lip.

“Is that everything?” he asked, lightly drumming his fingers on the wood of the desk.

“What was your name again?” Jou blurted.

There was a pause as he hesitated.

“Kaiba.”

“Neat,” Jou smiled. “Mine’s Jounouchi, nice to meet you.”

Kaiba nodded back.

“Well, thanks a bunch for the help,” Jou managed, scooping his books back into his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He waved, thinking far too hard about everything he was doing. “I’ll see you.”

 

On the walk home, Jou counted the cracks on the sidewalk in front of him. He looked for shapes in the clouds, rewrote song lyrics in his head, and cracked his knuckles one by one. Anything to keep his mind occupied, as he clearly couldn’t control himself and behave like a normal person.

With all this recent worrying, he was just projecting his anxiety onto someone who was both unfamiliar and completely detached from his situation. For all he knew, Kaiba might be a horrible, unpleasant human being. But he was certainly interesting, and _mysterious_. A horrible combination - Jounouchi was easily intrigued, and as usual, it was working to his detriment.

Not only was all of that working against him, but Kaiba was also very… _nice_ to look at. It was really because of that that Jou focused so hard on not thinking about him the entire way home. Something he thought he’d succeeded in until he sat down to work and pulled out his notebook to find Kaiba’s handwriting covering the last four pages. 

He swallowed the now-familiar feeling in his throat and read over the solutions, surprised to find they were actually quite easy to follow. With Kaiba’s help, Jounouchi completed four problems he’d been unable to figure out previously. As he wrote out the last answer, he sighed to himself and dropped his pencil. Here he was, doing math homework of his own volition, and daydreaming about someone from his class. A _guy_ from his class.

The desk vibrated and after taking a deep breath, Jounouchi swiped open his messages. It was Serena.

**_hi babe :) whatcha doin?_ **

He typed back a vague response.

**_hey, not much. what are you up to?_ **

She wrote back within the minute.

**_kasey from work invited us to another party tonight if you’re free?_ **

Jounouchi sighed, and again, tried to reply quickly.

**_probably not tonight, i don’t feel super good. sorry_ **

Instantly, she sent a frown. The typing symbol came up again, and he waited for a few seconds.

**_k… maybe u should go to the dr if you’re not feeling good lately. :( i’ll miss ur face._ **

He tossed his phone onto his bed without a reply and finished his math homework in record time.

 

Monday morning marked the beginning of midterms, but Jounouchi was prepared. None of his classes were particularly difficult besides Statistics, and the final for that wasn’t until Friday. If he set aside some time each day to study, he’d be totally fine. Things were smooth sailing.

The only negative to the week was the screwed up class schedule, which meant he was free and bored whenever he wasn’t at school. Honda claimed him both Wednesday and Thursday for baseball, but besides that, the week would be dreadfully uneventful.

He woke up at 7:00 sharp on Monday and was out the door by 7:40, getting to his Botany midterm right on time at 8:00. There really was nothing like coming out of an exam room and not wishing for death, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he walked out the doors and into the crowded hallway.

There was nothing left on the day’s schedule besides lunch with Anzu, and Jou took his time as he strolled down the long stretch of hallway. He recognized a few girls from his high school, but everyone else was a new face. How was it possible that this many people existed in his hometown without him knowing?

As he turned the corner to the hall leading outside, his pondering was cut short. Jou stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the figure silhouetted against the window ten feet in front of him. 

Kaiba leaned against the ceiling to floor window, all legs, one hand supporting the elbow that held his phone to his face. The conversation ended only a few seconds after Jou spotted him, and he turned around to find Jounouchi standing with one arm dangling at his side and a rather dumb look on his face. Without thinking, Jou waved, and Kaiba closed the distance between them.

Every step he took only made Jounouchi more tense. By the time he stopped only a foot or two away, Jou was fairly certain that his legs were fully paralyzed.

“Jounouchi.”

“Hey,” he said evenly. “You here for a midterm?”

“Physics. You?”

“Botany.”

Kaiba raised an eyebrow, and Jounouchi immediately felt his cheeks go warm. He held up a hand to defend himself.

“It’s uh, it’s not that bad actually. I was -”

“No, I’m sure it’s interesting,” Kaiba cut him off, something resembling amusement dancing behind his eyes. “I just wouldn’t have guessed.”

A grin spread across Jou’s face before he had time to stop it, and his natural flirt took over.

“Oh, and why’s that?”

The corners of Kaiba’s mouth twitched before he pursed his lips, and as inconsequential as it was, Jounouchi was genuinely delighted.

“No reason.”

A long pause followed, and Jounouchi worried that his heartbeat may literally be visible through his shirt. Kaiba broke the silence though, straightening up to his full height and nodding down at him.

“I have to get going,” he said quietly. “I’ll see you around.”

Staring _up_ at a pretty face was a new experience, and Jounouchi chewed his tongue in his back teeth as he smiled back.

“Yeah, I’ll see you.”

With another quick nod, Kaiba spun on his heel and sauntered out the front doors of the building, carefully observed by Jounouchi every step of the way.

_Great._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah here we go!! let me know what ya think!! <3

A cloud of guilt hung over him the entire six block walk to lunch. When he arrived at Anzu’s ramen place of choice, he was fifteen minutes early, but he chose a table and sat down to pout across from an empty chair. 

He hadn’t done anything wrong. It was Kaiba’s decision to approach him; he had nothing to do with it. Not only that, but speaking to fellow students about school-related things was a completely normal thing to be doing. Any guilt was clearly misplaced.

“Hey! Sorry, I got stuck waiting in line for -” Anzu paused with a hand on the back of her chair as she hung up her purse. “What’s wrong? Were you waiting long?”

As usual, Jou’s face was screwed up in thought and gave him away. He relaxed as best he could and smiled at her as he stood up and pulled her into a quick hug across the table.

“No, no, I’m just spacin’ out,” he laughed. “How was your midterm?”

For once, he was thankful for Anzu’s tendency to dominate the conversation. They both sat down and he listened to her describe (in detail) her many encounters with a rude girl that she was forced to share a dorm with, each one more ridiculous than the last. By the time their food arrived, Jou was intimately familiar with most of the people in her life, and she went quiet for the first time since showing up.

“You and Yuugi still goin’ strong?” he asked in between slurps.

“Mhm,” she hummed, putting a hand to her mouth to contain a stray bean sprout. “Ten months. How are you and Serena?”

Guilt from earlier fluttered in his chest.

“We’re doing fine. Six months, I think.”

Anzu smiled at him from behind her hand.

“That’s great! I always liked you two together.”

“Yeah,” Jou mumbled. He separated each ingredient into its own pile in what little remained of his broth. 

Minutes ticked by and only Anzu’s bowl emptied. 

“Hey, I gotta question for you,” Jounouchi said suddenly.

Anzu nodded enthusiastically through her mouth full of noodles.

“You’ve made new friends in the time you and Yuug have been together,” he said slowly. “Obviously. Right?”

She set down her chopsticks and took a long drink of water.

“Of course,” she laughed as she wiped her mouth. “What do you mean?”

“Oh I dunno,” he mumbled. “I’m just kinda-” he hesitated for a fraction of a second “-becoming friends with a guy in one of my classes, and Serena doesn’t know him. You know me, I have anxiety about the dumbest shit.”

A quick glance at her expression revealed she was smiling, and Jounouchi relaxed a little.

“No, I totally understand,” she dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “When you’ve been dating someone for a while it’s like, weird to hang out with someone who doesn’t know them. If you guys stay friends like, outside of class, she could totally meet him, but even if she didn’t, it would be normal. You both have your own stuff.”

Jou picked the green onions out of his broth as he listened to her ramble.

“So yeah, I mean, being anxious about it is normal though, especially since making new friends after you turn 18 is way different and more awkward than when we were younger. But I digress,” she pushed her empty bowl away from her. “Who’s the guy from school?”

“Just a guy in my stats class,” Jou said quickly after swallowing the growing lump in his throat. He gestured at her empty bowl. “You done?”

“Oh, yeah.” Anzu frowned. She stood up and grabbed her purse off the back of her chair. “We can pay up front.”

 

The next two weeks went by without much fuss. After a while, Jounouchi had figured out that Kaiba stayed after class to tutor on both Mondays and Tuesdays if necessary - purely through observation, of course. Well, and the two days in a row that he’d stayed after for help one week. His assistance was academically essential in both cases, though, and Jou was more than prepared to defend himself if anyone asked.

His morning routine was the one thing he finally had down to a science at this point: out of bed at 8:00, brushing his teeth in the shower by 8:15, dressed by 8:30, give his bangs a quick pass with the blow-dryer, grab a muffin, and he was out the door by 8:45. This Monday wasn’t any different than normal, besides it being cold enough outside the door for him to pop back in for a jacket.

Botany was let out early, so Jou took his time walking to Stats. When he’d finally shuffled in and settled into his back-row seat, he glanced at the day’s lecture topic to find that Kaiba wasn’t in his usual place behind the professor’s desk and frowned. Maybe he was late, or sick. Either way, he put it out of his mind as Mr. Enshiro began his lesson.

As the minutes ticked by, though, Kaiba still didn’t show up. Absent? His routine had never been interrupted before. An idea crept its way into Jou’s brain that perhaps the TA position was temporary. They were a bit like intern positions to begin with, offering nothing besides an extra-curricular on future documents. At least, that’s what Jounouchi thought - he knew basically nothing beyond what the title implied. It sort of made sense, at least, it did when he first thought of it. 

By the next morning though, he’d beaten the idea to death, thinking it over enough times that it now seemed inevitable, like it could be the only possible reason for his absence. Midterms had been completed, and so had his run as a professor’s assistant. On the walk to class, Jou argued with himself until he felt adequately prepared to never see Kaiba again.

And he thought that he was, really, until he walked through the open door and right past Kaiba who sat behind the professor’s desk, blissfully unaware of any strange emotional side effects that his absence may have caused as he marked papers.

Somehow, his reappearance was worse than if he had left for good, as the feeling of happiness and relief that washed over Jounouchi upon seeing him was ten times more uncomfortable than any despair he’d felt over his absence. For the entire class period he vacantly chewed the end of his pen, writing down the few things he caught here and there. Feelings about feelings blurred together until they were suddenly being dismissed.

As soon as he realized it, Jou didn’t hesitate before plodding down the stairs, books in hand, and sitting in what had become his usual seat across from Kaiba.

“Hey. I only have a few I need help with today, sorry,” Jounouchi said quietly, internally cringing at how pathetic it came out.

“Which ones?” Kaiba ignored his apology. His eyes lingered on Jounouchi’s face while he flipped through the book, moving away as soon as Jou slid it across the desk.

“Eighteen, twenty, twenty-two, and twenty-five. At the bottom there,” he reached across and pressed a finger to the end of the page, shooting a glance up at Kaiba for confirmation. He nodded curtly and started writing out the first solution as Jounouchi returned to his seat.

In order to occupy his hands, Jou grabbed an abnormally large paperclip he spotted next to the keyboard. He meticulously bent it into a perfect square as Kaiba scribbled numbers in the notebook, focusing hard enough at one point to give an impressive jump when their professor cleared his throat behind them.

“Will you two be alright if I run a few errands?” He looked between them for an answer. 

“We’re fine,” Kaiba answered without looking up. “I’ll be here.”

“Lovely,” he chirped as he scuttled out the door, leaving them alone in the low buzz of the fluorescent lights.

Jounouchi watched Kaiba finish up the last two problems, still twisting the paperclip absentmindedly. What if the TA position was actually temporary? If Kaiba didn’t show up to class again, Jou knew he would regret never at the very least trying to talk to him. And just like Anzu said, befriending people was a perfectly normal and very average,  _ regular _ thing to do. The only real problem was getting it to happen naturally.

“That was it, you said?”

Jou looked up from what was now a misshapen corkscrew and stared back blankly as he processed the question.

“Oh, yeah, those were the only ones I couldn’t get. Thanks.”

Kaiba nodded and slid both his textbook and notebook across the table. He turned to the computer and refreshed the page, but glanced back over out of curiosity when Jounouchi didn’t stand up.

“Hey, uh, do you tutor outside of this class?”

Kaiba’s forehead wrinkled.

“Well… no. Not formally, anyway. Why?”

“I’m just lookin’ for some help with Chem.”

“Hm,” Kaiba hummed, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the desk. “I’m not a science major by any means, but -”

“Oh, dude, no, I’m dumb. Of course you’re not,” Jounouchi nervously laughed over him. He waved a hand dismissively as word vomit continued to pour out of his mouth. “Sorry, for some reason I just figured you might uh, do it for other subjects, or something. But you’re probably only a TA for this one class, so it does make sense that you’d only  _ tutor  _ for this one.”

There was a moment of silence following his nervous babbling where across the desk, Kaiba’s eyes flashed with that same amusement he’d noticed before. 

“If you give me your phone number, I can let you know my availability,” he said casually, resting his face in his hand as his gaze flicked back over to the computer screen.

Something fell out of Jounouchi’s throat and into his lower intestine, and he shifted in his chair.

“I mean, yeah, if that works for you,” he stammered, unsteadily hoisting his backpack over his shoulder. He watched Kaiba reach behind the computer tower and pull out his phone before setting it gently on the desk in between them. After opening it with his thumbprint, he nudged it closer to Jounouchi.

After he entered his number, Kaiba clicked the phone locked without entering him as a contact, and Jou looked up to find him staring back.

“Well I, uh - thanks again. I’ll see you,” he said quickly, shooting Kaiba a snaggle-toothed grin as he stood up from his chair.

 

As he fiddled with the key in his apartment doorknob, all Jounouchi could think about was peeling the stiff denim off of his legs and collapsing into bed. The knob clicked after some more aggressive jiggling, and he shuffled inside and turned around to reset the lock behind him.

“Katsuya~!”

Jounouchi whipped around at the sound of Serena’s voice and found her leaned against the wall in the hallway in a green satin teddy. He slowly shed his sneakers and jacket as his mind came crashing back to earth.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Serena purred, tiptoeing her way across the carpet to stand in front of him. “I thought classes ended at 11?”

Jou reached for her waist and brought her closer, successfully drowning out the sensation that flickered in his chest.

“I got some help afterwards,” he said, keeping his voice low as he leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together. “But I’m here now.”

 

The sound of the shower running meant that Jou could finally lay in bed and not think so hard about what he was doing, if only for a little while. If he wasn’t mistaken, it had somehow been an hour and a half - it sounded like the elementary school was being dismissed outside. His phone sat on the nightstand and he tapped it to bring up the clock.

He lifted his head an inch or two to glance at the screen, but quickly sat up straight and swiped it open when he saw the text he’d received 23 minutes prior.

**_Is this Jounouchi?_ **

He replied.

**_Yep. This Kaiba?_ **

Dots appeared within seconds.

**_It is._ **

Dots again.

**_Just wanted to inform you that I have a free hour after Statistics next Friday if you still need help._ **

Jounouchi let out the breath that he’d been holding and smiled to himself just as the shower shut off and the hum of the fan started up. 

Befriending Kaiba wasn’t inherently wrong.  _ Wanting  _ to befriend Kaiba wasn’t inherently wrong. There was no reason to feel guilty.

**_That works for me._ **

He fought the urge to stare until dots appeared and instead placed his phone face down on the nightstand. The fan whirred to a stop downstairs, signaling the end of Serena’s shower routine, and Jounouchi curled up and closed his eyes.

 

~

 

Ten days later and five minutes after Statistics began, Jounouchi pushed the door open and dragged his feet up the steps to his usual seat, exhausted. Three days in a row he’d been forced to skip both Stats and even Chem one day to work on a group project in Botany. They’d spent hours working on a presentation that would have taken Jou 45 minutes by himself, and that was saying something.

Usually missing a few classes wouldn’t be a problem, but he hadn’t lied when he’d told Kaiba he needed help with Chemistry. Missing his weekly class period meant he’d be completely clueless the next time he attended, and keeping up on his own was next to impossible. Figuring out the day’s lecture topic was always more difficult than it needed to be, and it was always late by the time anyone even texted him back with an answer, leaving him to study into the wee hours of the night.

It wasn’t even until he was halfway to school this morning just four hours after cramming that his sleep-deprived brain remembered his scheduled hour with Kaiba. Botany flew by, partially due to an unplanned nap, and he was out the door and on his way to Statistics before any of his group members could rope him into any more unnecessary time together.

The lesson today was surprisingly easy-to-follow, and as they were dismissed, he trotted down the steps and sat in his usual spot. To minimize any time spent fumbling in Kaiba’s gaze, he’d bookmarked some things in his Chemistry textbook, and Kaiba placed one hand over the other in front of him on the desk, tilting his head to better read the problem as Jou wordlessly set it down.

After reading and re-reading the problem Jounouchi had indicated, Kaiba drew a small table on a nearby scratch pad and launched into a slightly disjointed explanation of molecular composition. Their professor had vacated the room by the time he was done, and Jou was left to process the actual chemistry portion of what he’d been saying instead of just watching the way his mouth moved.

“Alright, well that pretty much does it for that chapter,” he muttered as he reached across the desk to flip the page. “This is the only other one I’m really fuckin’, uh, I’m really not good at.”

Kaiba smirked as he leaned his weight into his elbows and read over the second problem, but his expression faded into one of concern as he continued down the page. He chewed his lip and skimmed the next few sections for a minute as Jounouchi watched impatiently.

“Honestly, I’m not sure I fully grasp all of this,” Kaiba admitted. He read over the initial problem for a third time and shook his head before looking up at Jou, who sat wide-eyed across from him. “You said this is for Chem 105?”

“Mhm.” A lump formed in his throat that he didn’t attempt to swallow.

“Hm,” Kaiba frowned, flipping through the beginning of the chapter. “I wasn’t aware anything past 102 was required for an engineering major.”

The end of his sentence echoed in Jou’s head, and his eyebrows twitched.  _ Engineering major?  _ What was he talking about?

Oh.

... _ oh. _

Realization washed over him about as comfortably as a bucket of ice water.

“Oh, it’s, I’m not uh, I’m still not sure what I’m majoring in,” he choked around the mass in his throat. 

Kaiba’s focus flicked back and forth between Jounouchi’s eyes.

“I see.”

“Yeah,” Jou laughed to fill the silence as he stood up and gathered his things. He struggled with the textbook, having to set his backpack on the desk in order to carefully fit it inside. “Well thanks again for takin’ the time to -”

“Is that a DM deck?”

He blinked down at Kaiba, who pointed at the ratty blue box that had fallen next to the keyboard.

“What?”

“Your deck box,” Kaiba again gestured at the case beside them. “What is it for?”

“It’s uh, yeah. It’s Duel Monsters.”

“Do you play?”

After a few long seconds of gaping at him like a fish, Jounouchi cleared his throat.

“I don’t get to very often, I don’t know a lotta people who play. Do you?”

Kaiba drummed his fingers on the wood and shrugged.

“It’s been a while, but I’ve played in a few tournaments.”

Still unsure of whether or not this was actually happening, Jou fiddled with the zipper on his bag’s front pocket.

“You could bring your deck sometime. Like, to mess around or something. I’m definitely not good.”

“Maybe.”

His bag secured on his back, Jou shoved a hand in his pocket and kicked his chair back into place. He smiled as Kaiba lifted a hand from his keyboard to wave.

“See you, Kaiba.”

 

On Monday, Jounouchi opted not to ask for help after class. The last thing he wanted was to seem needy. The decision of whether or not to acknowledge Kaiba on his walk out the door was irritatingly difficult, and so as he made his way down the top steps, Jou kept his focus pointedly downward.

“Jounouchi.”

His name out of Kaiba’s mouth sounded bizarre, and Jou turned at the last step.

“Huh?”

“I brought a deck,” Kaiba said quietly, glancing at the few students still slowly making their way out the door. “Would you want to try a round?”

“Oh, shit.” Jou grinned and made his way over.

He tossed his backpack on the linoleum and yanked the same ratty deck box as before out of the side pocket. Across from him, Kaiba did the same with what Jounouchi thought, after a triple-take, must be a custom box of his own.

“I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t expecting you to actually have a deck,” Jounouchi laughed as he tapped his against the edge of the desk.

Kaiba’s eyes flicked up to meet Jou’s for a moment before he continued shuffling the cards on his side of the table using a fitting, overly-complicated arrangement.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Jou’s nose scrunched as he thought over his answer.

“I mean…”

_ Because you don’t match the description of someone who plays trading card games? _

“I hardly ever meet anyone who plays this game.”

Kaiba hummed ambiguously and displayed his freshly shuffled deck for him to cut. Jounouchi did the same, and the duel began. There was a bit of a slow start, but things progressed significantly in Kaiba’s favor once he had a few monsters on the field. As expected, it was Jounouchi whose life points hit zero less than ten minutes later.

“Yeah, I knew I was bad,” Jou shook his head as they both shuffled. 

In the back of the room, Mr. Enshiro appeared from the attached office, locking the door behind him. He flipped around with his hands clasped and bowed.

“Boys, I’m so sorry. I have to lock up the classroom today,” he said quietly, his keys jingling in between his palms.

Cleaning up was easy when they only had decks to tidy instead of the usual pile of textbooks and papers. In the hallway, Kaiba chatted with their professor as he locked up, quietly discussing something TA related while Jounouchi watched in silence. Once Mr. Enshiro finished his goodbyes, Kaiba turned to face him, and Jou smiled.

“Rematch?”

 

Kaiba’s blue eyes seemed to somehow glow once they were out in the sun. Fat splotches of light fell across them both as they sat at one of the picnic tables dotted all over campus, their cards spread haphazardly over the wooden panels. Cordial small talk had been traded in for sassy banter now that they’d left the comfort of the classroom, Kaiba even surprising him with a few choice comebacks near the end of the game. When Jounouchi lost for a second time, it wasn’t the same resounding defeat as before.

“You’re really not bad,” Kaiba told him. “You need a better deck.”

“I’d ask for tips, but I don’t have a ton of cards,” Jounouchi shrugged. His chest went warm at the compliment. “Fun playin’, though. Sorry I get kinda competitive, just bein’ stupid.”

He stole a look at Kaiba, who smiled down at his deck as he packed it away.

“I’m the same way.”

It was an incredible test of self-control for Jounouchi not to stare at him as he untangled himself from the bench. Only when he opened his mouth did Jou allow himself to look up again.

“I have to get going, but I’ll see you.”

“Yeah, you’re fine. Bye,” Jou waved, tickled by the full smirk Kaiba gave him before he spun on his heel and strode around the corner.

 

Tuesday the same thing happened again, Jou losing two duels in a row before heading home. Duels number five, six, and seven occurred on Thursday, eight and nine on Monday, and after four more on Tuesday, even Serena had caught on what was becoming his new schedule. When Jounouchi unlocked the door an hour later than usual, she didn’t move from her spot on the couch.

“Hey,” he called from the front door.

She didn’t respond, only listening as he kicked off his shoes, washed his hands, and grabbed a sparkling water before plopping down in the beanbag next to her with a loud sigh.

“Whatcha watchin’?” he asked, squinting at the TV.

“Some property show,” Serena said evenly. “Why have you been coming home so late?”

His forehead wrinkled as he leaned forward to set his water on the coffee table.

“I’ve actually been playin’ cards with a guy in my stats class.”

“Hm.” She stared blankly at the episode of House Hunters that played on mute in front of them. “Is that Kaiba?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jou said slowly, having to fight the sudden urge to vomit. “How’d you know?”

“I saw your messages with him.”

“What? When?”

“You just left it on the nightstand and I saw it,” she snapped.

“Oh,” he muttered. It seemed baffling that she’d made the connection, but there was nothing he could do about it now. “Well, yeah. He plays Duel Monsters, an’ I always have my deck and hardly know anyone who likes it. It’s cool, I’m actually learning how to play.”

The TV flashed as Serena cycled through the channels. When Jou reached for his drink, he noticed her scowling and opted not to say anything. She hesitated on a movie from the 80s, but as soon as a musical number began, she tossed the remote on the couch and left Jounouchi in the living room to sweat by himself.

 

When Jou sat across from Kaiba after class the next day, a black deck box identical to the one he usually used lay on the desk between them.

“New deck?”

“Oh, I grabbed a few cards that I thought you might be able to use,” Kaiba answered without looking up. He continued typing an email, seemingly unbothered, as Jou frowned at the box between them. 

When he picked it up and opened it, inside was a decent selection of cards, maybe 15 or 20. As he flipped through them and read their descriptions, it was clear they’d been specifically chosen to mesh with the crappy basic deck he used.

“Jeez, dude, this is so nice of you,” he said under his breath, shocked by the gesture. “I can’t take these.”

“Hush,” Kaiba gestured dismissively as he finished up on the computer. He waited for confirmation that something had sent before scooting the keyboard out of the way and turning his full attention to Jounouchi. “It’s nothing, really. I essentially have a lifetime supply of cards. Don’t worry about it.”

Jou carefully shuffled a chunk of them into his deck as Kaiba watched.

“Plus it’s not often that I meet someone who plays, especially for fun,” Kaiba added softly.

Jounouchi screwed up his mouth to avoid grinning.

 

“See? That was close.”

Kaiba didn’t sound surprised as he examined the few cards still left on his side of the field.

“Yeah,” Jou muttered into the hand he held to his mouth in hopes of concealing his red face. He watched Kaiba gather his cards. His long fingers straightened each stack as they always did, elegantly arranging their sleeves before gathering them in their sleek black case. “When’s the last time you played in a tournament?”

“Year or two.”

“Shit, dude, that’s crazy,” Jou babbled, still hypnotized by the other boy’s hands. “You’re so good.”

“Thank you. I’m not as good as I used to be,” Kaiba reminisced. He snapped his deck box shut, forcing Jou to look up and meet his gaze. “I haven’t touched it for over a year. It’s been nice to play it so casually.”

Jou smiled back. Spending time together after class this past week had been surprisingly easy. Playing cards was always fun, and their rapport flowed naturally, leaving Jounouchi with hardly anything to stress over. It was only in rare moments like this one, with Kaiba’s blue eyes fixed on his, that his hands began to sweat.

“What’s, uh, why’d you stop competing?” he asked, trying to choose his words carefully. This was the first time their conversation had dipped below the surface.

“Busy with school, other responsibilities,” Kaiba shrugged. He paused with a frown. “My brother is in elementary school, which is incredibly time-consuming.”

“Oh, I feel that,” Jou replied, spewing nonsense into the air as a means to keep the conversation flowing. “My sister’s like, five years younger than me, and I helped take care of her for a while. It was definitely a full-time thing.” He laughed. “Happy to play with you, though. I’ll look some shit up and make an actual deck with these, an’ hopefully beat you for once.”

Kaiba sat with his head held in his hands, his elbows pressed into the worn wood of the desk. 

“I look forward to it.”

Just beneath his collarbone, Jounouchi’s heart purred like a jet engine. Any tension in the room felt like it had been absorbed into his spine, there was no way he could sit any straighter. On top of all that, the backs of his thighs were going numb from sitting in a horrible wooden chair for so long.

He ground his tongue between his teeth. It had been… well, it had been a long time since he’d been so taken up by another person. It was tough to admit, but Jounouchi had yet to feel anything like this about Serena. Their friendship was perfectly organic, and they meshed well, but, as he was learning recently, that didn’t necessarily guarantee romantic compatibility. 

Acknowledging his girlfriend’s existence made the back of his neck itch, immediately yanking him out of the moment. He took a deep breath and met Kaiba’s eyes again.

“If you wanna duel at an actual table, there’s a tabletop cafe nearby. If you’re down after stats tomorrow,” he heard himself suggest. Careful examination of Kaiba’s face revealed nothing.

“Sure,” he hummed calmly, again with zero indication of emotion. The fact that he’d agreed was more than enough for Jounouchi, though, and he smiled as he stood up.

“Cool. Hey, and thanks again for the cards.” The corners of Jou’s eyes crinkled as he stuffed both of his deck boxes in his jacket pockets. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

~

 

“What are you even doing after class? It’s a Thursday,” Serena argued that night as she scrubbed her casserole dish. The steel brush she’d chosen squeaked uncomfortably against the glass.

“It’s just more bullshit for my Botany class,” Jounouchi yelled over the running water.

She rolled her eyes and whined, groaning even louder when water splashed her shirt at waist level.

“Will it really take that long? I’ll be there until like, eleven,” she persisted. It went quiet as she shut off the water.

“I won’t be done ‘til like noon. I’m sorry, it’s not like I wanna be doin’ it.”

Jou squirmed uncomfortably in his spot on the couch, grateful that Serena couldn’t see him. His last second decision to fib about spending time with Kaiba not only felt scummy, it also confirmed exactly what he’d been hopelessly trying to deny.

He was completely and irreversibly enamored with his Statistics professor’s assistant, and there was nothing he could do about it.

It was somewhat troubling how effortlessly he could lie to her. He felt even worse when he acknowledged that it would have been easier if not for the slight tugging on the back of his neck acting as a constant, nagging reminder that this wasn’t exactly upstanding behavior.

The hollow sound of Serena’s glass of water hitting the coffee table startled both of them, and she plopped down next to him on the couch. As she settled, Jou gently draped an arm around her shoulders.

“Whatever,” she muttered, making no move to fit against him. “We better stay late on Monday.”

“What’s on Monday?”

She scoffed and jerked away and out of his grip.

“Honda’s  _ thing _ ?” she snarked, holding out a hand in disbelief.

Jounouchi nodded in surrender.

“Alright, alright, alright, yeah, I remember now. We’re goin’ to that, yeah.”


End file.
